2024 World Series Apple TV+ Docuseries Reinvents Archaic Film Formula
By Wayne G. McDonnell, Jr.
March 28, 2025
The 2024 World Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees featured two iconic franchises whose financial privilege is challenging Major League Baseball to answer competitive balance questions and outcries for a salary cap. Amid the uproar regarding the Dodgers’ latest spending spree and dominance in acquiring elite Japanese ball players, Apple TV+ is set to globally release on March 28th a three-part docuseries entitled, Fight For Glory: 2024 World Series. Excellence in storytelling has created a cinematic experience that has never been seen in eight decades of World Series films. Each episode serves as a reminder how baseball imitates life while its beauty is manifested through humility and perseverance.
Instead of a highlight reel celebrating the thrill of victory, Major League Baseball and Imagine Documentaries wanted to reinvent the World Series film. Imagine Documentaries is the home to award-winning filmmakers and producers Brian Grazer and Ron Howard. An all-star team of executive producers were assembled beginning with Derek Jeter and his CAP 2 Productions company. Alongside Grazer, Howard and Jeter, the trio were joined by Sara Bernstein, Mark Blatty, Marc Gilbar, Elise Pearlstein, Trevor Smith, Nick Trotta, Justin Wilkes and Justin Yungfleisch.
Academy Award-nominated and Emmy-winning filmmaker R.J. Cutler of This Machine was asked to direct the docuseries and serve as an executive producer. Cutler approached the project through a character-driven perspective with the 2024 World Series serving as the story’s background. “I saw a series of two titanic teams where game after game was one swing of the bat away from the other team winning,” said Cutler.
A baseball fan with allegiance to the New York Mets, Cutler grew up watching 1986 World Series highlights on a VHS tape that followed an archaic formula. Major League Baseball began producing World Series films in 1943 to entertain troops who were engaged in battle overseas during World War II. Cutler wanted to capture the difficulties of baseball and how it could humble one of the greatest ball players on the planet such as center fielder Aaron Judge of the Yankees. He strived to tell a story that was delicious, dramatic and emotional while celebrating the humanity of baseball.
Appropriately titled, the docuseries goes well beyond two large market franchises with payrolls of more than $300 million and a World Series rivalry that dates to 1941 when the Dodgers called Brooklyn their home. It demonstrates a sense of urgency while managing lofty expectations. Brian Cashman, senior vice president and general manager of the Yankees, explains in the docuseries how pressure is a privilege, and why it is a part of the franchise’s brand. He takes it a step further by saying fans command and demand the Yankees to be excellent on an annual basis.
